Thursday, September 08, 2011

After the blog post about transcendental meditation in prison, I contacted the federal agency that maintains a website helping decide which evidence-based practices are really evidence-based. I received a nice email today in response, which read in full (with links embedded in the text):

Thank you for contacting CrimeSolutions.gov.

CrimeSolutions.gov is not an exhaustive list of all justice-related programs and reviews of programs are conducted on an ongoing basis. CrimeSolutions.gov has not currently evaluated any programs related to meditation or yoga in adult correctional settings. Meditation is, however, one component of the following program evaluation:

Finally, you may be able to locate program evaluations on this topic in another program library. To locate information and URLs for such online libraries, please visit the following section of our site:

I haven't gotten such a helpful response from someone in a government agency in so long it caught me off guard. Good show, Albert. More on this, perhaps, once (if) I get a chance to go through this reading list Albert has now assigned for us

7 comments:

Anonymous
said...

It would be nice if meditation were a magic pill that could be fed to anyone and have the desired effect regardless of what the person thought about it. But everyone who meditates knows that the benefit derives from a combination of the effort and the motivation to exert the effort. The bottom line is that opportunities for spiritual development (such as meditation) need to be offered to prisoners not because the activities will have a desired social impact (i.e., decreased recidivism) but because prisoners are people, too, and as such are deserving of spiritual nurturing.

Well said Anonymous. Those of us who have or have had loved ones incarcerated know really well that prisoners are people too. In fact, to us, they are people first and prisoners second. The public seems to be able to lump them together as "convicted felons" and forget that they have feelings and needs and people who love them on the outside. In fact, it's the support from us while they are in there that keep them motivated to work on programs like meditation.

Personally, I am all for teaching inmates methods of self-control and introspection as a means of contributing to their post-lockup lives. However, as good as most inmates seem to play the system for bonus points it will take a huge amount of follow-up studies to see how ultimately successful this type of program is.

London Counseling is right. There really is no hard data on this subject. But having both worked in corrections and being a Buddhist, I can readily see the almost immediate benefits of meditation for inmates. In the godawful, chaotic, always noisy, almost always tense environment of prisons and jails, meditation gives inmates a tool to separate himself from all that, if only for short times. IF the guy persists and establishes a daily practice, he can learn so much about himself, others, and change habit-energy behaviors that do not work for him. But like new meditators outside, many- of not most- have no true commitment, get bored or do not get the instant gratification some think they'll find...and just drop out. Most prison meditators are going it alone, with no guidance from someone with experience. It seems counterintuitive, but having a teacher is really crucial. When prisons refer to "spiritual", they almost always mean Christian ezclusively. Because of the structure of many Buddhist organizations, the lack of "clergy" blocks volunteers from setting up meditation programs inside. More enlightened (pun intended) corrections officials recognize the value and encourage these groups.

Its funny how people always want science to prove something is working. I think anecdotal tells a lot, perhaps more than scientific stats. I know I sure respond to spiritual programs and to people who treat me with love and respect. So does everybody else I know. Seems like that ought to be enough common sense proof rather than the scientists referring to endorphins in the brain and what we create in our imagination which cannot be scientifically proven.

Meditation works for those who want it, likewise with the other various religions. It seems believing in something greater than self and finding a peaceful place inside makes all the difference in the world, especially in the midst of chaos and darkness. I would agree with PB, having a mentor or spiritual leader would help in directing positive thought rather than old, ineffective thought patterns.

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